OAP pays for op with fake cheque

[The Lone Gunman]

I seem to remember that New Lie wanted to make use of the private health system some time ago but were defeated by their own left wing.
Didnt they propose something along the lines of paying the private sector to shorten waiting lists?
Why can't the NHS cover this guys bill?
Why isn't this a legitimate and practical solution to waiting lists?

Oh! I remember. The Old Labour Trolls don't want to be lining the pockets of free enterprise!

[Fungus]

Now that is the sort of spirit and creativity that made Britain great. Whenever that was. A few years back. I think. So they say.

[DimPrawn]

I like the NHS. Everything is free as long as you are willing to wait a few years for life saving treatment.

Makes perfect sense to me.

[KentPhilip]

I wonder - if you pay for something with a cheque knowing that it will bounce, isn't that fraud? Or criminal deception?

But saying that, I think he did the right thing. But no doubt the NHS and other health providers will start tightening up their checks (or should I say cheques) before providing services.

[xoggoth]

"I did nothing wrong," he insisted. "I took back what was rightfully mine. I've been paying into the national health all my life, it's about time I got some payback.

DAMN RIGHT!!!

[AtW]

OAP pays for op with fake cheque

A penniless pensioner from west London paid for a life-saving heart operation with a fake cheque.

Retired painter and decorator Roy Thayers was facing a nine-month wait on the NHS to get an angioplasty.

Instead, the 77-year-old wrote out a cheque for almost £9,000 for a private operation at Hammersmith Hospital - despite only having £10 in the bank.

He is now paying back the remaining amount of £6,481 in £25 instalments. He will be 99 by the time it is repaid.

Severe pain

The pensioner suffered from terrible pain for more years "than I can remember." It left him a virtual cripple.

"It was like putting a knife inside my ribs and twisting it all up," he said. "I couldn't move my legs and had to sit down after a few steps until the pain went. Truly terrible."

Doctors told the father of two he risked a fatal heart attack at any time. Then he was told there was a nine-month wait.

He was left with the choice of either waiting out the nine months and risk having a fatal heart attack or writing out a "Mickey Mouse cheque" and going private.

The decision was easy.

"The idea came on the spur of the moment. I love life, I love my dogs, I love fishing - why should I die for the sake of money?"

"I wasn't going to worry about the law until it came to me," he said. "I paid into the NHS for years to look after me but now the doctors were telling me they wouldn't so who's robbing who?"

Bailiff threat

He wrote out a cheque on the day of the operation in December 2003.

It was only days afterwards that the hospital realised what had happened.

The NHS threatened to send bailiffs to his address to recover the money. All sides however finally agreed on a payment plan of £25 a month.

A spokeswoman for Hammersmith Hospital NHS Trust said Mr Thayers' health was of the utmost importance and insist he would have been seen on the NHS earlier if his condition was thought to be urgent.

Married twice, his first wife died of cancer 40 years ago. After divorcing his second wife and becoming estranged from his two children who live in Bournemouth, he now lives alone.

But the pensioner has no regrets.

Happy to be alive, he spends his days watching old black & white westerns in-between looking after his two Jack Russells and his canaries.

"I did nothing wrong," he insisted. "I took back what was rightfully mine. I've been paying into the national health all my life, it's about time I got some payback. I did the right thing - I did what any man who do."

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Free NHS my arse: IMO in cases like this NHS should be automatically liable.